Strikeforce's Benji Radach re-injured but plans to return in April

The Strikeforce middleweight on Tuesday told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that his right bicep, shoulder and pectoral muscle could be torn and an MRI will reveal the extent of the damage.

“It’s somewhere between pink and black and all the colors in that range,” Radach said.

But regardless of the prognosis, Radach said he’ll be ready to fight on the second CBS-televised Strikeforce event in April and would like to face the winner of a Jan. 30 “Strikeforce: Miami” Melvin Manhoef vs. Robbie Lawler fight.

“I talked to Strikeforce, and I’m really pushing for that,” he said. “I want to get somebody tough for that show.”

Radach, 29, was expected to face Lawler at “Strikeforce: Evolution” this past December but was not medically cleared to fight due to a badly broken right hand suffered in a KO loss to Scott Smith in April.

Radach said he was cleared to train shortly after the December event and began assisting Jay Silva for his recent UFC Fight Night 20 fight with Chris Leben. Between training sessions, Radach used an electric bone stimulator to aid the recovery of his hand (“It’s going to be quite a club,” he said).

On the last day of Silva’s camp, Radach was working takedown drills when the new injury occurred.

“I was pushing off on (Silva’s) shoulder with my right hand and went from that to push off on his face, and then kneecap with the other hand — it’s basically like a wrestling takedown,” Radach said. “When I was doing that, he underhooked and moved a weird way and tore my bicep, shoulder and pec.”

The UFC veteran blamed the injury on the demands of holding down a full-time job while fighting professionally. He said previous medical bills and cost-of-living expenses in Southern California exacerbated money woes.

“I feel pretty pissed off about it,” Radach said. “I’d like to be going forward right now, and a lot of the reason I’m getting these injuries is because I’m not training like I should be. I should be doing it full time, and I’m still holding jobs and trying to pay bills.”

Radach currently works as a corporate trainer for LA Boxing, a chain of gyms across the U.S., and said the company had recently made pay cuts.

“I’m just trying to push forward,” he said.

A native of the Washington area, Radach began fighting professionally at the age of 20 and made fast waves in the fight game for his heavy hands. After a three-fight stint in the UFC, Radach went 5-1 in the now-defunct International Fight League before a barnburner fight with Murilo “Ninja” Rua on CBS in December 2008. His camp considered appealing the Smith loss when they accused the referee of several mistakes during the April fight. The complaint was later shelved.

In the course of a nine-year fight career, Radach has endured a litany of injuries from neck to jaw to knee that have kept him on the sidelines.

He said a meeting with his current boss will determine his choice between work and fighting.

“I would pick fighting,” he said. “I have five years of this in my whole life, and then I’m going to die wondering what I would have done. I can always get another job.”

And as someone who’s been down the path of injury before, Radach feels confident the problem is not serious enough to stop him from fighting in the spring. He goes in for an MRI today.

“I’m hoping I just tore it and I’m just irritating it by not giving it rest,” he said. “I went through almost every injury in the book. … I just got to give myself some rest.”

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